App happy neighbours

Technology is often blamed for distancing people. But an IIT alumnus is using the very same technology to bridge this gap by bringing the community closer. Delhi-based Prashant Pitti’s smartphone app ‘NearGroup’ is an initiative to bring neighbourhoods closer, turning them into tight-knit entities.

Touted as the country’s first neighbour-networking app, it provides a platform for people to join upto eight groups through which they can interact with others in their neighbourhood in matters regarding day-to-day living. Need a ladder? Need to carpool? Require a gym-buddy? Trouble finding a house-help? NearGroup enables users to find solutions to all these and many more queries in a relatively easy and hassle-free way.

“We live in a digital world where people across continents are connected like never before. Yet most of us are unaware of who lives in our neighbourhood and in times of need, travel distances without seeking the help of our neighbours. With NearGroup we aim to connect like-minded neighbours to build a better neighbourhood,” says Prashant. Trouble in finding a marathon partner to keep him motivated to run the race made him ponder about the need for such a platform and he started working on the idea three years back. “The mission is to make the community better by enabling neighbours to interact, help, exercise, carpool, volunteer, hangout and protect each other,” he adds.

The app saw high activity during the national capital’s odd-even run in the month of January, with users looking for carpool buddies. Neelima Kharbanda, a NearGroup user, says, “I was very worried about how I would travel to Gurgaon during the odd-even rule days from Delhi NCR. But thankfully I found another girl who lives quite close by, and together we made plans to share our cars and travel together.”

The application requires people to register through their Facebook account to filter away the fake and spam profiles. To be a part of your neighbourhood community, download the free NearGroup App and register by selecting yourlocation. You can also give missed-call at 9990480480 to download the app.